mosugoji64 Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 I have an opportunity to sit down with Erik Wolfe, partner of Dick Stoll in the forthcoming Stoll & Wolfe Distillery, early next month to discuss their progress and plans for making whiskey in Pennsylvania. As many of you know, Stoll was the master distiller at the Bombergers (Michters) Distillery in Schaefferstown, PA. If any of you have questions you would like asked of Erik, let me know here or send me a PM. He said there's not much to see at the new distillery site just yet, but I'll try to take some pictures to give you guys an idea of how they're progressing and forward any info I get on their plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Tot Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 I suppose I'd like to know what his fermentation strategy is going to be. Is he going to use longer fermentations, or else how is he going to differentiate S+W from the majors on that side of things. Other than that, what are his opinions on barrel entry proof, and are there special considerations he is applying to his barrel selection (Stave thickness, cooperage choice, seasoning time, etc). What are the specific aging warehouse conditions he finds ideal, and how long does he expect it will take for the first mature products to come to market? Is he also doing a rye, or a wheated bourbon? Any plans for the future of either? Lastly, is that bitch using a Q yeast? Don't answer that. Don't ask it either All the best, -p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flahute Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Dick is not a spring chicken. Will he be mentoring someone alongside him from the start to ensure that the legacy carries on when he does decide to hang 'em up? Adding to Paul's question about the warehouses: will they have multistory warehouses like most, or will they do something different with single story warehouses like Four Roses? Can he divulge mashbills being planned? We love that kind of detail here at SB. Thanks for giving us the chance to ask some questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BourbonJoe Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Where is the distillery located? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethangsmith Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 The distillery will be located in Lititz, PA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erikwolfe Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 It's exciting to see all the interest in the distillery. Just to introduce myself, I'm part of the Wolfe in Stoll & Wolfe. Lots of fun sitting down for the interview and geeking out together over whiskey. I know we tried to answer all of the questions posted but if there's anything we missed or any new questions - please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethangsmith Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Greetings Erik. We need to get together again soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erikwolfe Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 (edited) Looking forward to it Ethan. Edited June 9, 2016 by Erikwolfe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mosugoji64 Posted June 10, 2016 Author Share Posted June 10, 2016 Great to see you here, Erik! I'm still away on vacation and the thought of typing up the info from our chat on my phone makes me cringe so that will happen when I get home. In short, I can say to everyone here that Erik's interest in distilling is genuine and I think he, his wife, Avianna, and Mr. Stoll have some good things in store for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mosugoji64 Posted June 16, 2016 Author Share Posted June 16, 2016 We're back from our trip to PA and had a great time with Erik and his wife, Avianna. They were very gracious and invited Mrs. Mosugoji and me into their home to, as Erik put it, geek out about whiskey and talk about their plans for the Stoll & Wolfe Distillery. We also visited their future location but I didn't take any photos as there really isn't anything yet at the site. The front of the facility is currently an operating paint store and a shot of that wouldn't give you any idea of their plans for the place. The team behind S&W is Erik, Avianna, Dick, and Erik's father. Steve asked further up in this thread if Dick would be mentoring anyone to take over for him and Erik assured me that Dick is teaching all of them everything he knows, not only about distilling but about running a distillery. Dick did just about everything at Michters and has a great amount of knowledge to pass on. That's a big advantage for them in that they're not just reading about how to distill spirits but learning from someone familiar with the art of distilling and the mechanics of operating a distillery. Their signature product will be a rye whiskey with a 60/30/10 mashbill. They also plan to make a bourbon with the old Hirsch mashbill of 65/25/10, an apple brandy, and possibly a liqueur of some sort. Until their whiskey is ready, they will continue to source whiskey as they have done with their current product, a blend of straight whiskeys using MGPI bourbon and rye from Death's Door in Wisconsin. Their own whiskey will have a different label to set it apart from the sourced whiskey but will still bear the name Stoll & Wolfe. I'm VERY happy to report that they plan to age their whiskey in barrels with a minimum capacity of 30 gallons. That's always a big concern for me as I've found that whiskey aged in small barrels tastes bad no matter how good it might have been off the still. I don't care how quickly it gets your product to market if it tastes like crap. Erik said they also plan to experiment with second-fill barrels. I was very impressed to hear that the distillery will have two 1000-gallon cypress fermenters as I thought those were a thing of the past. They believe that using cypress benefits the fermentation process enough that obtaining it was worth the expense and the additional work in maintenance. Their still is a unique design created in collaboration with Tom McKenzie of Finger Lakes Distilling. Erik said working with Tom has been a great experience and enabled them to create a still that will be ideal for their product and space. For ingredients, they already have a local source in place for the apples that will go into their apple brandy. Local grains for their whiskeys will be on the way in a couple of seasons and they'll purchase grains elsewhere in the meantime. They're using three different yeast strains: whiskey, brett, and wheat beer yeasts. With the great discussions on yeast here lately I hope Erik chimes in with more info on their techniques for using the three types. Also of note related to yeast is that they plan to use a sweet mash in the rye and sour mash for the bourbon. Erik said they plan to distill two days per week initially. Fermentation time will be batch-dependent. He wasn't sure what proof off the still will be but they plan barrel entry at 109°. Once barreled, the whiskey will age in climate-controlled warehouses. Erik said the rye should be ready after about two years but they have no plans to release anything until they feel it's worth bottling. Lititz has a thriving food and drink tourism industry and the town sees a distillery as a great addition. S&W will incorporate a tourism component into their distillery with a tasting room and patio in front. They'll highlight the state's distilling history as well as their own distilling history with artifacts rescued from the old Schaefferstown distillery by SB member Ethan Smith. They plan to open at the beginning of October. While the new distillery sounds great, success will come down to the quality of their whiskey and I have no doubt they'll have some good whiskey to offer. Erik was kind enough to let me taste some white dog they made in Virginia as a test run. It was one of the best examples of an un-aged whiskey I've tried. I visited the Thistle Finch distillery in Lancaster during our trip and tried their un-aged rye as well. There was no comparison. While Thistle Finch wasn't bad it wasn't something I would ever drink regularly. The raw S&W whiskey, however, was very tasty in its current state and I can't wait to taste it after aging. After tasting their current sourced bottling I'm also very confident in their barrel selection and blending talents. The specs for the S&W blend of straights don't sound impressive on paper, and I told Erik as much, but I was impressed enough after tasting it that I ordered a bottle from the PLCB website the next day. It's good stuff! We also tasted some apple brandy that Erik made. If that's any indication of what they'll make at the distillery, I'll be brining home a bottle. I didn't know what to expect when we met Erik and Avianna, but I was relieved to find that they're whiskey geeks like us and not in this to make a fast buck. Erik is very passionate about whiskey and the area's distilling history. He has a contagious enthusiasm for what they're doing and, if not for their daughter's impending soccer game, I'm sure we could have spent many hours "geeking out" about whiskey and the distillery. If any of you happen to travel to Eastern PA after October 1, I highly recommend stopping in to check them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richnimrod Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 Nice synopsis, Mosugoji. The project certainly sounds interesting. I wish 'em good luck. It sounds like you had a nice time with Erik & Avianna. I wonder why the fermentation/distillation is so infrequent? Is the still rather larger than than the mash tubs can effectively supply? Of course the reason may also be a cash flow one, since they are just beginning this journey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erikwolfe Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 (edited) Great question Richnimrod. "Is the still rather larger than than the mash tubs can effectively supply? Of course the reason may also be a cash flow one, since they are just beginning this journey." It's based on cash flow as we're funding everything ourselves. Everyone in the industry who was kind enough to lend an opinion told us to invest in excess capacity and allow for planned growth over time. With existing setup we can produce 3 times more than what we'll run in our first year. Edited June 17, 2016 by Erikwolfe Clarification of timeframe at end of reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 Great report, thanks to all who contributed. As for cash flow I wish they would consider bottling some of that 60-30-10 as a white unaged whisky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erikwolfe Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 Squire, we will offer the white 60-30-10 most likely as a distillery gift shop release. If there's demand beyond that, we'd certainly be open to making it more widely available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkersh Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 Any review on the juice? I've seen. Oth old and new labels in the wild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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